Absolutely a perfect football afternoon in Abilene, where in a little over an hour the #9 Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders will try to derail the #3 Hardin-Simmons Cowboys. I’ll be keeping a running blog of the events here.
Funny; for some reason there are a LOT more press representatives in the box today (this early) than there were the last time I was here (HSU’s 51-13 demolition of Louisiana College in Week 3). Amazing how two top ten teams will draw the media. 🙂
While we’re waiting to start here, a halftime score of interest:
#20 Ohio Northern 21, at #2 Mount Union 7
The Raiders have yet to cross the goal line – their only score so far was on a return of a blocked punt.
Ron, I hope that the HSU hosts recognize you as the THE VIP press!
Don’t know about being “VIP” l, I did get to sit on the front row today 🙂
No wind to speak of today. UMHB kicks off to HSU, deep kick into end zone and not returned. Quick pass from Bernard to Epperson gets six on first down; Brad Clark is absolutely stuffed on second for a loss of one; Berhard forced to pull the ball down and is sacked for a six-yard loss. Josh Howard punts to midfield, and that’s where UMHB will take over.
It looked like Epperson did not run the route Bernhard was expecting, forcing him to pull it down.
Josh Welch executes the option around right end perfectly, releasing the ball as he is being tackled. 20 yard gain. Bryson then takes it right up the gut to the 13. Wow, huge holes. Bryson tackled for a short gain around right end. ANOTHER option to right side only nets a couple of yards, bringing up third and eight. Welch tosses a timing pattern and finds a wide open PJ Williams, TOUCHDOWN UMHB. Newcomb’s PAT is good, 7-0 UMHB with 11:39 left.
First time all season HSU has trailed.
This UMHB kick off to the five. Jared May is stuffed at the 15 but keeps driving, escapes, and Hardin-Simmons will start at their 27.
Bernhard completes a short pass out of the backfield to May for four. Can’t find anyone on second and scrambles for a few, bringing up third and three. UMHB brings the blitz, Bernard finds May again, just enough for the first down. Epperson takes it around end for about six. UMHB is showing excellent closing speed today. Clark stuffed on another try up th middle, no gain. UMHB brings the blitz again, this time Ricky Lopez gets the sack. Punt is spotted at the UMHB 12.
Bryson stopped for one on a draw. Welch is sacked by Daniels despite a sprint-out to escape pressure, brings up third and 16. Screen to Rollins gains 12, fourth down. Hamrick bobbles the snap but HSU has the return on, downed at the HSU 36 after a nice roll. 5:32 remaining in the opening stanza.
Andrew Judy sacks Bernhard after a play fake, fumble recovered eventually by HSU after a 20-yard loss. Screen on second gains two. Snap infraction on the center brings up third and 31. HSU tries the end-around to May again, but UMHB’s pursuit is not letting the Cowboys get around the corner. Punt falls but takes a UMHB bounce, Crusaders start at their own 48.
Rollins runs up the middle, some sloppy tackling allows him to gain 11 and a first down for UMHB. Same play to Bryson only gains a couple. Bryson carries around right end for six. Cowboys are getting no penetration on this pitches around right end. Bryson now the ASC all-time leading rusher. Welch keeps on the option (around right end again) for a first down. Ball now at the HSU 30.
Pitch around left end gets ten and a first down. Welch changes the play, pitch around right end is fumbled by Bryson but Welch recovers after a five-yard loss. Play fake gives Welch just enought time to find PJ Williams at the six, first down. Pitch left side is well defended by Anthony Thomas for a one-yard loss. Rollins carries it up the middle for two, END OF THE FIRST QUARTER. Yardage in quarter: UMHB 104, HSU -3.
Bryson stopped short around right end, but a illegal block against UMHB pushes the ball back to the 20. Inside pitch to Bryson gets 5. Zach Newsome’s 33-yds FGA is good. UMHB 10, HSU 0, 14:10 2nd.
Nice high kick to 3 – fumbled, recovered, return to 12.
Berhard’s pass to Carillo is complete for 12 – only the second first down of the day for the Cowboys. Bernhard tries an inside pitch to May, Kubiak brings him down for a three-yard loss. UMHB speed is killing HSU. Epperson’s catch is ruled no catch by a line judge who was shielded and could not see the play. Looked like a catch to everyone in the box. Bernhard gets a short pass to May who is immediately tackled. Punt on fourth and ten … nice fake punt out of HSU’s unique spread formation … Josh Howard finds wide open Wil Galusha for 15 and an important first down. Risky play pays off for the Cowboys.
From the 40 … loss of two and an incomplete pass as UMHB continues to bring the pressure and cover the receivers. On third down, Bernhard escapes, scrambles around left end for no gain. This time it’s a punt andd UMHB will start at their 15. 10:27 left, 2nd quarter.
Thrasher gets short yardage around left end on first. Nice play by Cody Deaver who trips up Rollins to hold him to a one-yard gain. UMHB takes too much time getting the play in and has to call a timeout with 8:55 left and third and 6 at the 18. Draw gets five, UMHB brings in the punt team. Hamrick’s punt again is a beauty from the 20 to the 25, returned to the 32.
QJones gets three off tackle. Some tempers starting to flare on the line. Quick pass to Carillo around right end gets five more. UMHB continues to react and tackle very well. Bernhard again under extreme pressure, finds QJones for a short gain, not enough for the first. Snap WAY over Howard’s head, recovers at the goal line, fines a receiver at the UMHB 30 who is immediately tackled. UMHB in business from there. 5:35 2nd.
Rollins around right end, breaks an arm tackle in gaining nine yards. Rollins goes through a huge hole in the middle of the line for a gain of 20. First and goal at the seven. Bryson no gain off left tackle. Welch keeps it on the option around left side, gain to the two. Rollins held just short on third down. Crusaders will go for it. Timeout HSU, 2:41. Ball just outside the goal line. Rollins easily takes it on over right tackle. With the PAT it’s UMHB 17, HSU 0, 2:39 remaining in the half.
May returns the kick to the 44 but refs call a ? holding penalty which sticks HSU back to their 25. Screen thrown at the feet of QJones, still nearly picked off by Jerrell Freeman. UMHB brings six on the next play, Lopez sacks Bernhard for an eight-yard loss. Bernhard sacked again as UMHB brings seven this time. UMHB takes a timeout with 1:37 remaining. Punt from the five if fielded by PJ Willliams at the 42, returned to the 25, personal foul on HSU takes it half the distance to the goal and UMHB starts at the 13. 1:27 remaining.
(Forward) pitch to Rollins gains three. Tony Espinoza breaks through to tackle Welch for a loss of five on an option. UMHB in no hurry but have to call a timeout as the play clock is running down. Welch finds Smith at the two, first down stops the clock, spikes the ball to stop the clock with 0:28 left. UMHB again doesn’t get a play in, no timeouts remaining so take a costly five-yard delay penalty. UMHB lines up, HSU takes their second timeout. Welch finds PJ Williams who is just inside the flag and scores. Newcomb’s PAT (good) makes it 24-0, 0:22 remaining.
Another delay penalty (about the ONLY thing the Crusaders have done wrong today) sets the ball at the 30, squib kick is returned to the HSU 48, best field position of the day for the Cowboys. Bernhard sacked again, HSU takes their last timeout. Ball at the 39. HSU takes a knee to end the half.
Incredible dominance by the Crusaders. The Cowboys have looked a step slow all day and the OL has not blocked, nor has the coaching staff come up with a cover scheme to help keep Bernhard from running for his life. First half stats to follow.
First Downs – UMHB 9, HSU 3
Rushing – UMHB 24-95, HSU 15-(-48)
Passing – UMHB 7-8-0 67, HSU 11-14-0 40
Total Yards – UMHB 32-162, HSU 29-(-8)
Third downs – UMHB 3/7, HSU 1/8
Penalties – UMHB 3-25, HSU 3-28
Leaders
Rushing – UMHB, Rollins 9-71; HSU May 1-8
Receiving – UMHB 3-35, 2TD; HSU May 5-11
Sitting outside a housing development in D.C., checking in to see how this is going. Looks good. Will be home in about an hour or so. Meanwhile, the neighborhood people are looking at me weird. Don’t think I’ll be here long. 🙂
Here we go with the second half. HSU kick to the goal line, Thrasher returns it to the 22. Welch in at QB, where he’s been all day (hint, hint). HSU picks up where they left off with a defensive offsides on the first play of the half. Rollins short gain, is slow getting up, holding his knee, walks off under his own power and looks OK. Low pass (appeared to bounce) called complete at the 42. Bryson stopped for a one yard gain. Quick out to PJ Williams gets the ball to midfield, third and three. Wil Galusha nearly picks off a pass in the flat, MHB has to punt.
A late hit on the return sets up HSU at the 25. Epperson catches a short pass from Berhard and works hard to get HSU into UMHB territory for the first time all day. Bernhard has all day but the pocket breaks down and he refuses to throw the ball away, losing ten on the sack. Toss it, dude! Bernhard finds Epperson up the middle for eight, third and twelve. Blitz is picked on and Bernhard eventually finds Howard for a first down to the UMHB 33. Jordy seems slow on his reads today. Overthrows Clark under pressure. Illegal motion as the center didn’t snap the ball when everyone else expected, second and 15. HSU tries to set up a screen, it’s well defended, and Bernhard can’t get rid of the ball. Another sack brings up third-and-33. Howard gets 22 to set up fourth and 11. Bernhard tries to find Epperson streaking to the end zone on fourth down, he overthrows him and UMHB takes over at the 35. 8:22 3rd.
Bryson gets five around left end. Rollins l(ooking a little tentative) is tackled for no gain. Offsetting personal fouls are called. Welch runs another option to perfection and the Crusaders get a first down near midfield. Rollins takes it up the middle. Bryson gets two on the option, third and three. Personal foul (WAY away from the play) brings up fourth and 4-. PF happened DURING the run, why dead ball foul? Hambrick’s punt is downed at the three. 5:45 left, third.
Berhard finds Howard for three. Throws into triple coverage, intercepted by Kubiak at the HSU 29. 4:54 third.
Rollins in strung out around left end, gains one. Welch keeps on the option and gains nine, first down. Rollins gets out on the left end, play is well-defended but Freddy breaks some tackles and gains six. Rollins gets seven up the gut, first and goal at the seven. PJ Williams carries on the reverse down to the two. Rollins scores on a dive. 31-0, 2:16 left third quarter.
Kick to the nine, returned the HSU 25. New quarterback for JSU is Ryan Hinojoza. He carries for two on the naked bootleg. Howard gets one on a reception underneath. False start on HSU (Wil Galusha, now playing WR). Hinojoza’s pass is just out of the reach of a diving Matt Epperson. PJ Williams fair catches at the 40 with 0:17 left in the third quarter.
Pitch to Thrasher is one of the few plays that doesn’t work – loss of six. END OF THIRD QUARTER, UMHB 31, HSU 0.
Thrasher gains six, holding called during the run, second and 20. Handoff to Thrasher loses three, third and 23. Bryson gets four, UMHB punts (after an illegal substitution penalty). May returns the ball from the 26 to the HSU 44.
Quinton Jones spins out of a tackle and takes it 57 yards for a TD. The PAT makes it 31-7 with 12:46 left.
Thrasher returns the kick from the HSU 10 to the UMHB 24 (Matt Fields makes the TD-saving play). The ref calls his third sideline interference call of the day, 2nd on HSU, giving the Crusaders the ball at the 12.
Andy Padron now into the game, carries to the eight, dead ball spearing called on HSU, ball at the four. Rollins takes it OT for the score to put the lead back up to 38-7. 12:09 remaining.
Jared May returns the ball from five yards deep in the end zone and is upended at the 15. Hinojoza finds Fields at the 26, first down. QJones breaks a couple more tackles, gains 20, first down. Cabrillo one yard on an end-around that takes a long time to develop. Hinojoza find Williams for ten and a first down. Finds May for 13 and another first down. It helps that UMHB is not bringing 6-7 guys all the time … finds Howard for nine on a quick screen. Epperson drops a pass (which would have resulted in a two-yard loss otherwise). QJones no gain on third down. QJones stopped short on fourth. Dead ball personal foul on HSU, UMHB taks over on their 34.
Starting to get chippy here as you might expect. Josh Kubiak takes a very late hit from Jordan Daniel which wipes out most of a very nice gain by Jared May. Kubiak was helped off the field. Daniel was pulled from the game after the personal foul. Hinojoza finds Matt Epperson at the 30, Epp makes a nice move and takes the ball to the three. Clark – no gain up the middle. Fade to Howard, overthrown. Hinojoza overthrows eeveryone on third down. Fourth down … pass incomplete under heavy pressure.
This is my last blog entry on the game. Scary thing, folks? Thanks to the hurricane, if HSU wins out, they still get the conference’s Pool A bid. You would have to think after today’s performance, MHB will be a shoo-in for a Pool C should they win out. The seeding of these two ASC teams will be very, very interesting. Aloha from Abilene, where UMHB leads 38-7 and is currently running out the clock.
Thanks, Ron, appreciate your hard work as always.
There are two (2) reasons why Hardin-Simmons lost today. 1. Stupidity, 2. Bernhards inability to be a team player. Check the states and see how many penalities/yards that pushed UMHB closer to the end zone. Late hit after late hit caused HSU to forget about who they are. It was embarassing to watch the train wreck for four quarters as guys would take cheep hits and become a disrespect not only to the fans but to their teammates. As I looked across the crowd, heads hung low and shock in disgust wondering, thinking this might not be the year for HSU. As being a part of the group that started when the same rivarly began, I couldn’t understand the same uncertainity myself.
I’m certain that a large part to do with the whole year’s confusion so far, is how the Boys are winning when their quarterback isn’t capable of seeing down the field or his teammates. He doesn’t understand the plays and second guesses it when the ball is snaped. Then he holds it too long and eats it. That is partially not his fault since the O-line forgot this is college ball and not peewee league where we better be careful or we’ll hurt someone one attitude, because they couldn’t block if they were paid to. I guess they wanted a Fall Break like the rest of the school.
There were brief moments when there was a glimmer when Quinton ran it in or we got some good first downs. But then what would happen? You guessed it. Yellow flag would come flying out because HSU lost their minds and get a late hit penalty and then have Keeling in their face.
Lets just hope that HSU don’t loose anymore. I’ll give UMHB credit, they do have a great running game. It was amazing to see you guys run right down the middle. You looked more relax and it paid off. HSU just looked spastic not know what to do. At least it wasn’t Homecoming, right UMHB? Well at any rate HSU needs to get their act together. McMurry isn’t going to be a cake walk like it has been in the past. Their win today might give them something to go on for next Saturday. I’m looking forward to the night game though. Finally might feel like football season. Go Go HSU!!!
UMHB beats HSU ends with the same record but HSU wins the conference? HOW is this?
I think a ton of ASC teams should make it.
Ron:
Outstanding work.
HPU:
UMHB can’t finish with the same record because they play one less game due to the Louisiana College rain out. That’s why HSU wins the title by winning out. They’ll be .5 game better.
HPU alumni, because the conference champ is determined by winning percentage. The Hurricane Rita LC-UMHB cancelation is impcting the outcome of the conference.
IMHO, if both run the table, then HSU gets the Pool A and we rely on the criteria of UMHB defeating a Pool A winner for the CRU to get a Pool C bid.
However, one more loss and only the conference champ goes.
Why didn’t we move the ball much until the 4th quarter? The backup QB did a great job of leading the team down field.
Because by that time UMHB quit sending 5, 6, and 7 guys after the QB every down.
The backup seemed like when he was scrambling he went forward. He had a positive ground game and more yds in one quarter than the starter did in 3 quarters. But I am only a fan. You are the expert. Good job covering the game.